USL MATCH RECAP | San Antonio FC: 2, Portland Timbers 2: 1

SAN ANTONIO – Playing the first game of a two-match road trip, T2 fell 2-1 to San Antonio FC at Toyota Field on Saturday night, as Portland’s five-match unbeaten run came to an end.

T2 firsts
Forward Darixon Vuelto made his first start of 2018, logging 45 minutes. Defender Max Ornstil made his first appearance of 2018, playing 11 minutes as a second-half substitute. Defender Nathan Smith made his first start since returning from an injury, and defender Arturo Diz Pe made his USL debut.

Key plays
Portland threatened the San Antonio defense late in the first half after Diz Pe’s looping header flashed over the crossbar in the 40th minute.

In the 47th minute, forward Jeremy Ebobisse, making his first appearance as a substitute this season, saw his right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area skip wide past the post.

Two minutes later, substitute Marvin Loría set up T2’s next scoring chance, as he fended off his defender from inside his own half, making a 40-yard run before playing in Williams behind the San Antonio backline. Williams earned a penalty after he was clipped by a San Antonio defender inside the left edge of the penalty area and rolled his penalty attempt into the far corner of the net to give T2 a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute.

In the 84th minute, midfielder Andre Lewis’ long-range effort was fired over the crossbar.

San Antonio tied the match when forward Owayne Gordon’s shot from the center of the penalty area beat T2 goalkeeper Alex Mangels at his near post in the 85th minute.

SAFC scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time after Alex Bruce was first to a failed clearance inside the box, firing his shot into the lower right corner of the net in the 93rd minute.

Next Game
Next up, T2 will close out a two-match road trip against Rio Grande Valley FC Toros at H-E-B Park on Saturday, June 9. Beginning at 5:30 p.m. (Pacific), the match against Rio Grande Valley FC will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Postgame Quote SheetT2 head coach Cameron KnowlesOn his thoughts on the match…
“The final result was obviously disappointing. We wanted to come in at halftime to win the game, and we did that. We went out and started the second half very well and put ourselves in a really good position, and then just unfortunately conceding some late goals to turn that result against that, which was a shame because I thought the players worked incredibly hard over the 90 minutes.”

On next week’s road match against Rio Grande Valley FC Toros…
“We’ll reflect on the game, learn from our mistakes and take the positives. The guys worked incredibly hard in very challenging conditions. We’re going to see the exact challenging environment in our next road game. Having this fresh in our memory is going to be important for the guys, but we know we’re good enough to close out that game.”